THE 88-year-old author of the critically acclaimed To Kill A Mockingbird is to publish a newly discovered second novel this summer, more than half a century after her seminal debut.
Harper Lee's new book, entitled Go Set A Watchman, was actually written before the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill A Mockingbird, which was published in 1960.
The text was believed lost until last autumn, when her lawyer, Tonja Carter, discovered a copy among the author’s belongings.
The events of To Kill A Mockingbird took place in the Jim Crow South of the author’s childhood.
The 'new' book is a sequel set 20 years later, in the 1950s. It features many of the same characters, in the same fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Lee’s original UK publishers, William Heinemann, announced that the 304-page book would be released as written, with no revisions, in July.
Book fans have expressed their excitement of the news. One Twitter user said: "Still riding the surge of innocent joy that followed the announcement of Harper Lee's new novel."
AUTHOR: Harper Lee's new book Go Set a Watchman will hit shelves in July and focus on Scout's adult life
Lee said in a statement, “In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman. It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood, persuaded me to write a novel from the point of view of the young Scout. I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told.
“I hadn’t realised it had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years."
The classic piece of literature. which has been studied in schools across the UK for several years, is renowned for its "warmth and humour", despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality.